hem some idea of its distance, climate,
population, and productions. It was with extreme difficulty that these
people had imbibed any correct idea of the superiority of rank possessed
by some individuals among us; and when at length they came into this
idea, they naturally measured our respective importance by the riches
they supposed each to possess. The ships they considered, as a matter
of course, to belong to Captain Lyon and myself, and on this account
distinguished them by the names of _Lyon-oomiak_ and _Paree-oomiak_; but
they believed that the boats and other parts of the furniture were the
property of various other individuals among us. They were, therefore,
not a little surprised to be seriously assured that neither the one nor
the other belonged to any of us, but to a much richer and more powerful
person, to whom we all paid respect and obedience, and at whose command
we had come to visit and enrich the _Innuees_. Ewerat, on account of his
steadiness and intelligence, as well as the interest with which he
listened to anything relating to _Kabloonas_, was particularly fit to
receive information of this nature; and a general chart of the Atlantic
Ocean, and of the lands on each side, immediately conveyed to his mind
an idea of the distance we had come, and the direction in which our home
lay. This and similar information was received by Ewerat and his wife
with the most eager astonishment and interest, not merely displayed in
the "hei-ya!" which constitutes the usual extent of Esquimaux
admiration, but evidently enlarging their notion respecting the other
parts of the world, and creating in them ideas which could never before
have entered their minds. By way of trying their inclinations, I asked
them if they would consent to leave their own country, and, taking with
them their children, go to live in ours, where they would see no more
_Innuees_, and never eat any more seal or walrus. To all this they
willingly agreed, and with an earnestness that left no doubt of their
sincerity; Togolat adding, in an emphatic manner, "_Shagloo ooagoot
nao_" (we do not tell a falsehood), an expression of peculiar force
among them. The eagerness with which they assented to this proposal made
me almost repent my curiosity, and I was glad to get out of the scrape
by saying, that the great personage of whom I had spoken would not be
pleased at my taking them home without having first obtained his
permission. Information of the kind a